Islamic Theology 2013

Transcript Details

Event Name: Islamic Theology 2013
Transcription Date:Transcription Modified Date: 4/24/2019 6:39:15 PM
Transcript Version: 2


Transcript Text

so if if

you know if if one Hindu kills a Muslim

you don't go out and find any Hindu to

kill them right that's there's people

that do that you know one one part of

the group does something to another part

so they go find anybody from that group

that's transgression this is not justice

as vengeance the difference between

justice and vengeance and then it says

when in sabar to the whole Hyrule is

sobbing but if you're patient it's

better to show patients you know it's

better then if you then redressing the

wrong then you know going on but then it

says while spitting you know you be

patient

so like the OMA it said you know if you

want to redress your wrongs do it but be

just in it but it's better to be patient

but then it says but you prophets all

I'd assume you have to be patient you

don't have an option here because he's

the exemplars and the exemplar has to

embody the highest example and that's

why the prophets um when he looked at

people he did not look at them with

contempt nobody

he had no contempt for people he had no

kibbe there was no pride in his heart

when the man said to him he asked him

about the sandals and and he said you

know I love to wear nice sandals and I

like a nice shirt is that Eric

the Prophet said in a lodge Emilia

Benjamin God is beautiful and he loves

Beauty in other words the thing that you

love the fact that you like beautiful

sandals what you really love is the

thing that Allah loves you love that

attribute of that thing that is is a

reflection of a divine attribute which

is beauty that Allah is beautiful so

when you love beauty you're loving the

the reflection the divine reflection of

God's beauty in the world that's what

you're really attracted to and he was

acknowledging that that that's not a bad

thing it's a good thing because Allah

knows that thing that's why he made that

thing that's why he brought Beauty into

the world because Allah is beautiful and

your acknowledgment of that beauty is

your recognition of that attribute in

the world that's what you're attracted

to it's it's the beauty of Allah that's

manifesting in that thing that's what

you're attracted to but then he

explained what Kippur was what arrogance

was he said well a candle kibbe butter

will help will humbleness arrogance is

to reject the truth when it's presented

to you and it's to have contempt for

people people Nass people is to have

contempt for people I'm Dana

it was called cuthbun and amar it's

inside Bihari it's in Sinai and it was

only described as the red dune like

there was a dune over it like a red sand

did I answer that or not somebody sent

something up I think

where is Nineveh in the modern world

Nineveh is Mosul in Iraq it's a it's

having a lot of trouble right now yeah

you know I heard it from a well-known

share that Allah has made it forbidden

for the earth to take the bodies of the

prophets and that their flesh is still

fresh in their graves

how is this supposed to be understood

well I mean first of all the it's a

hadith the Prophet said avocado had said

that NBA the earth doesn't eat the

prophets but that's also that's not

that's a Catholic belief as well I mean

the Catholics actually one of the signs

of sanctification is that the bodies

aren't there called incorrigibles and

the Vatican is filled with those bodies

from from Saints that there was an

interesting article and discovery about

they let scientists go and examined the

bodies in in in the Vatican and it's

worth reading the article because a

couple of the scientists just were

flabbergasted so a lot of the bodies

were actually mummified because the

Pope's would they'd be a little worried

that they would get their flesh would

get corrupted so they'd have make sure

that they were mummified afterwards but

some of them weren't and there was one

fifth century Saint is like a patron

saint of prostitutes she was a

that had Toba and she became a saint and

but the one of the scientists just said

that like he was just amazed at the

preservation of the body he just like it

really floored him now I saw when I was

12 years old and I was went to a Greek

Orthodox summer camp in Greece I

actually visited the island of Zakynthos

and and there was a st. George Wright

who I'm I wonder if it's a Jew Age in

the story of the prophets eyes him where

they built the church for him but we saw

his body which is open to air it's

completely intact I mean I saw it with

my own eyes so you know incorrigibles

are they exist in the world

there's there's bodies that have not and

they're not mummified there's bodies

that were mummified but there's also

bodies that just have not been eaten by

the earth so that's that's not that's

not a you know that's a that's a reality

that's even accepted by the secular

world I mean they have their

explanations for it you know they think

it was the in that anyway that article

talks about why they think they were

preserved but still their preserves are

there for people to see even Medgar

Evers

when they exhumed his body in 1992 I

think he was killed in 62 61 when they

exhumed his body in 1992 it was

completely intact

so Medgar Evers a civil rights activist

hmm yeah he was shot in the back mm-hmm

Oh

guy was just reading from this book is a

commentary of the boertie by an Egyptian

share named Hassan and AD will hams away

it's a shot hello portable Syria yeah

it's very interesting I just suddenly

gave it to me a couple months ago or

last month could you please clarify what

you said about the maraj being a vision

for the Prophet does this mean that his

seeing the other prophet in being in the

divine presence and receiving the prayer

was not in his physical body no he was

definitely in his physical body when he

met the prophets also his the the ascent

through he did go through the malakut is

different from the mullick and i don't

know you know

the monk is what we're in here this is

the mulk the Mallicoat is is it's the

realm of the angels and then you have

the jaw borrowed so you there are

different rounds and the realms are not

the same like we're in a fixed physical

world where time-space affects us you

know if we if you know I'll bump into

the wall I'll hurt myself but there's

other worlds that are very different

from this world and the prophets eyes

have entered in to those worlds now we

don't know what I mean I don't know what

to tell you about it other than it's not

like here but that went that entering

into the divine presence was not

physical by consensus I mean that's just

anybody that tells you that that was a

physical thing was not now what was it I

mean I don't I don't I don't know I mean

I can't tell you what it was but the

reason that ultimate reject the

physicality of entering into the divine

presence is because it necessitates

certain beliefs that are impossible is

the hallo alle law one of them is that

it allows in a physical place God cannot

be in a physical locality because if he

was in a physical locality that

means he's muta he is in other words

something's around him there's something

outside of him which is impossible

because the hadoo de la who imam up to

how he says he has no limits God is in

finite Sheena - it means like a limit

and end infinite without end so a lot is

without limits so he cannot be contained

and and therefore - you know to enter

into the Divine Presence we don't know

what that means

I can't tell you what that means we're

all going to experience it so we just

have to wait for that but it's going to

happen and it's your we believe we're

going to see God but not with the

physical eye

not with Anil fannia with a nutbar piya

with the eight eternal eye the eye that

is able to witness the divine reality

and the anima say it's B let your heart

that you know there's no you don't see

God in any hotter sense you don't it's

it's it's a it's beyond company mala I

know lots

I mean if Jenna is what the eye has

never seen will a genuine semi had and

no ear has ever heard when a hotter a la

poly be better and it never occurred to

the human being that's Jenna so what is

God I mean if that's just Jenna that's

God's creation what is God because jenna

is what no eye has seen what no ear has

heard and what never occurred to the

human heart so when you know God is you

know an Angelina Iraqi adraka will hold

if Acuna Scirocco the same that Walker

said our inability to understand God is

our understanding of God and to speak

about the essence of God is to fall into

shark

well because language is is limited I

mean when we speak in language even

language most of language is metaphor

even though we don't think about it most

of language when we speak we're using

metaphors constantly but we don't think

about them as metaphors because language

is symbolic language is expressing

things that are not really language

right I mean when I talk to you about I

saw a beautiful tree today

alright you know what a tree is but you

know that there's a whole branch of

philosophy that argues there's no such

thing as a tree because trees aren't no

tree is like any other trees so is there

a category of trees in reality and we're

just lumping them all together because

they look alike and that's what we do

with humans right but is there really

something called humanity there's a

whole bunch of individuals out there but

can we lump us all together and call us

humanity because that's a category but

its language it's limited so all of

language has its really gross

limitations in expression of how we're

going to talk about things and that's

why so much of this is metaphor

it's just the nature of language and

reality and when you talk about God I

mean you know Rumi says that that really

says theologians are like chaperones

they're just there to make sure nothing

haram happens with the lover and the

beloved you know but but you know in the

end of the day the Prophet SAW lies in

him you know he was in a state of divine

witnessing which I had no I mean say no

and he said I never saw anything except

I

saw Allah before it in it and after it

mean he didn't mean that physically that

he saw God but he saw whatever tidge nd

was there he saw it because the Taj

India tour had you know what they called

theophanies in in English you know a

Thea a theophany is like that in in

Arabic it's called Atta gently

which is how God expresses himself in

the world it's a manifestation of the

divine in the world the world is not the

divine but the world cannot exist

without the divine it's the mirror yeah

and we're the pupil we you know God is

contemplating himself through us but

that you know there's no there's no

we're not God I mean that's a Hyundai

love we're not that's we're not

pantheous or Penn anthias or you know

but we do we do believe that language is

limited you know that's why you know the

Quran has so many meanings it's just

endless meanings because of the nature

of language and the Quran is the richest

language and anybody who really studies

Arabic language will increasingly

realize that about the Quran you know

there's just endless possibility so but

the point is is that that rejection of

physicality even though the language you

him will Kunlun ulsan Ohama Tesh mija a

will who one is warm turns out onesa

Warrenton seha a will a widow for would

warrant and zahana

hmm you know every every text that in

any way indicates anthropomorphism

either interpreted metaphorically which

is the opinion of later muta kalamoon

the earlier opinion which i think is the

sound sound us and that's the one I

prefer is oh for well you know just

leave it to God don't don't say you know

what it mean just it doesn't mean what

it appears to mean

which is called taut wheel is Madi as

opposed to that wheel tough ceiling

mm-hmm anakata

[Music]

well yeah racism is a major human

problem you know still and Muslims are

certainly not exempt from racism there's

different types of racism in the Muslim

world than say in in in the West

I mean Muslims have never had really a

color racism it's much more about tribe

and clan and family and you know and

also now like for instance the Arabs

some of the Arabs might look down on say

Pakistanis or South Asians but there was

a time when it was quite the opposite

you know I mean the South Asians were up

on the top and then again that's about

power and that's the nature of the world

that's why the world is a kind of

uninteresting place from that

perspective because so much of the world

is about power and that's why like

Bernie Madoff is such a wonderful gift

to humanity

you know because Bernie Madoff to me

once you understand Bernie Madoff you

can never take the world seriously you

know because Bernie Madoff was on he was

the head of several charitable

foundations you know he was lecturing on

ethics you know he was the head of

yeshiva Business School and he stole

their whole endowment and he had plaques

of honors I mean that's the world the

you know the world will honor the most

dishonorable and contemptible people

because the world is about appearances

and not about

reality and it's very easy to fool

people in the world because people are

generally naive and they're generally

simple and that's why the venal people

and the worst types of people in the

world get along very well in the world

you know for however long they get along

I mean Bernie did quite well for quite

some time and his wife even got off with

I think two and a half million dollars

or something and but she didn't know

anything about it of course I mean that

he'd stole billions ollars I mean my

wife knows everything about everything I

make and everything so and he had one

accountant he had one CPA and it's a lot

and that CPA I didn't know anything

about it either he was shocked as

everybody else

Bernie sons were shocked even though he

set him up in business everybody shocked

all of Bernie's best friends is one of

his closest friends that I can't believe

it he was one of the nicest guys ever

knew you know I mean that's just dunya

so you know at a certain point I mean

that the thing about it is and this is

it I'm going to tell you the truth

you're a young man like I've been around

long enough to know something we're

aliens really this is not our planet

we're just here for a short time it's

it's like a it's like a prison that

you've been put in and behave well and

you'll get off with good behavior really

just behave well but ignore the other

inmates really because it's it's crazy

and there's a lot of nutcase people out

there and prison makes people mad in

some ways do you know so you just have

to you know your mom addict said and

this is one of my favorite statements

that I've ever heard and this is worth

the whole sitting through this whole

lecture for this really it is mo Matic

said I knew a people a dr. Coleman you

know I

I experienced a people who had no faults

and they preoccupied theirselves with

faults of others and God gave them

faults and he said and I knew another

people who had faults and they pre

occupied themselves with purifying their

faults and ignored the fault of others

and God removed their faults so I think

the best thing for you is not to be that

and to to just be the witness you know

we're shuhada at a nest that that's what

the quran told us to be witnesses unto

mankind and if you're really a true

witness then you don't reflect that if

other people reflect that there's

nothing you can do about that other than

be a true witness to somebody who is not

a racist or who's not a and and just

watch yourself because we all have it

I mean there's people you know there's

been sociological studies of white

people in this culture where they had

had them interview different people with

the same degrees and everything and but

there have a black and Hispanic and a

white and they would their syntax would

change when they when they were talking

with the black people their syntax would

change because there's just sociological

assumptions that are really hard to

break in people so racism is very subtle

and it manifests in a lot of different

ways and and everybody's carrying around

baggage and everybody's had their time

at being on top you know

the blacks have been on top in human

history you know the Arabs were on top  and him in history the whites were on the bottom for a long time and the Irish still are so you know their time will come George Bernard Shaw said I want to be in Ireland when the end of time comes because everything happens fifty years later in Ireland.

It's time for Isha I think

 

VIDEO 2

the handle down salatu salam wanna see

they know what have even a cylinder on

and he was a happy woman today only i

sin and idiot hey ami Dean Aloha murder

in mallanna no madam tonight I can't

anymore Hakeem along I am the man fair

enough Anna be mad Anton was in the

ilknur alongside enigmatic one shot

Elena put together than enjoy daddy what

a crumb or salad of Madison the Mohammed

wanna edit Quran what I hold of an hour

what I never had an Italian and I handle

the the subject of tawheed is probably

the single it is the single most

important subject for Muslims to to have

some level of knowledge of I've been

accused of saying that you can learn to

heed in 10 minutes and I think I'll

explain what I meant by that basic

tawheed is is very simple a person can

say la ilaha illallah muhammad rasool

allah and there there Muslim because

Laila hey Lala can be explained very

quickly what exactly it means Lam Abood

be happen Sawalha there's nothing in

reality worthy of worship except Allah

lamb Abood and be happen there's nothing

worshiped in truth except Allah

Leila Heil Allah there is no God except

Allah there's no God except the one true

God that basic understanding is that's

how you get into Islam so from that

point of view it's very quick that's why

there's a Sahabi that said Shahada

that's all he did he did never prayed or

fast it and he went into a battle and he

was killed and he's saying

was for being the Sahabi that died and

went to paradise with her without ever

having prayed or fasted but he said

lately a lot now the Arabs the

pre-islamic Arabs knew Arabic so they

knew what Len if he legends meant like

they didn't have that term for it that's

a grammatical term that came later but

they knew when you have la followed by

an era that's mom soul but they didn't

have those terms either those are

grammatical terms but but they knew what

it was they knew when you have a Fatah

even though they didn't called maan soup

they knew LAN la illaha not la la una

because that changes the meaning that

Eli own la ilaha Neffe little Jin's

negates anything of what follows Allah

is most Athena it's an exception so in

the in the fundamental creed of Islam

you have a negation and an affirmation

the first thing children learn to do is

negate that's why they say let the first

word most kids learn that no because

negation is part of asserting something

one way to assert something is to negate

but the affirmation which follows

negation is done through an exception so

there is no God except Allah and Allah

subhanAllah Dianna the word Allah is a

Semitic word the the Hebrew said l-like

jibra eel eel Elohim is from the same

root yellow which is the Aramaic yellow

was the only Aramaic that's left in the

gospel is Eloi Eloi Lema Lema

sabachthani and that's the only thing in

the gospel from that language which was

probably the language that a scientist

and him spoke so Allah is a proper name

for

a loss of hand with data so when we wait

when we embark on to ahed there are

certain prerequisites the first thing

people here in Charlotte are what are

called to lobulated seekers of knowledge

and seeking knowledge is one of the

highest things that you can do the

prophets Eliza time said at Bath manhood

you had to seek knowledge is actually

jihad and he also said that with a

character who just doing what Accra is

to SPEA it's like saying subhanAllah so

when you're actually reviewing your

classes your notes and things that is

dhikr of Allah subhana WA Ta'ala and the

Prophet said in the memory to my lima I

was only sent to teach people and he's a

teacher

he also said Salah why he said I'm that

more a luminous I'll hire the people

that teach people good get the reward of

the people they teach what am class

women many lethality and it doesn't

diminish from the ward of the one doing

it and that's why that that goes on

until the end of time so if everything

that every Muslim has ever done of good

goes back to the prophets Elias and

because they do it with that Nia and the

Prophet taught them Nia the Prophet

taught us will do he taught us prayer he

taught us to heed he taught us all these

things so everybody that's ever learned

that until the end of time has that

reward goes back to the Prophet SAW time

it goes back to the teachers and one of

the blessings of this tradition is the

chain of narration the chain of

transmission that people learn things

based on these chains so we're all links

in the chain and whoever's teaching

something that's learned it from a

teacher who learned it from a teacher

who learned it from a teacher goes back

to like in the case of this book Imam

Ali's book it goes back to Imam at the

Howey but Imam to how we learned

from his mother woman mezzanine Omaha

via Omaha we Iman Meza nice sister she's

also called hooked and Elmo's any and he

learned from his uncle amendment was any

one of the great Japanese scholars and

imam moussa he learned from Imam Shafi

imam shafi'i learned from imam malik

imam addict learned from Nana I learned

from even Omar even omar learned from

The Messenger of Allah so the chain

even among how he the chain is unbroken

it all goes back to the prophets Elijah

them so that that's the blessing of the

is net the prophets Allah serum also

said that in al Maleh Akata latardo as

neha Taha Leah palpable in real on beam

is now that even the Angels put their

wings down for the seeker of knowledge

out of joy for what they're seeking

seeking knowledge the Prophet Elias Adam

also said that man palpable Elma man

terrible Elma Paulo para but memorable

and Melinda he tell Jenna to fear Allah

be he woman palpable marcia tov an ROV

therapy he you know that if you if

you're seeking knowledge paradise is

seeking you if you're seeking knowledge

for allah's sake and if you're seeking

disobedience the fire is seeking you and

the prophets allah i am also the quran

tells us Pharaoh ala decree in

contemplate our Moon as the people knows

if you don't know and knowledge is there

are different types of knowledge one of

one one of the basic aspects of

knowledge which is it's not dialogical

it's

didactical you the didactic that you

there's information somebody studies

grammar then they teach grammar it's

something you learn so in the Zaidan

baba i'm

you know that that's if we're going to

parse that sentence you have to learn

what in that is what it does to a noun

like Zaidan so it's Munsell because of

in and then you learn baba is a feral

and it's moving on the Fatah because

it's a feral Molly and then you learn

that Imran is Munsell because this

mother gonna be that's that's something

that you learn and that needs to be

taught there's not a lot of discussion

you can ask questions like why did

they'd hit alma and you can ask that

question i actually told the mufti of

egypt that the problem in the arab world

is not going to stop until they change

their grammatical sentences that they

teach little kids because it's always

eight hit dhamma and you know I said in

the West we've gotten you know Dixie's

Jane which is another problem you know

but anyway so the that's a knowledge you

know and either you know it or you don't

know it this as simple as that

and so it's information now in in

al-qaeda there's certain information now

you can read it in a book like that book

there that is the Creed of Imam Appa

Howie that book you can read the book

and you might have questions and if

you're clever you know you can

understand quite a bit of it maybe all

of it and you might understand it better

than the person that translated it

that's possible so but there is a

blessing in studying with this chain

there's a blessing we believe that and

and that's part of what this tradition

is about so you can learn from books but

there's always a blessing to go through

that now at a certain point especially

with students it's good to have more

that Kaaba which is where you actually

discuss things that you're learning and

because mother Kara is a way that real

questions begin to emerge because at

biological approach to knowledge is

actually a lot better than the didactic

approach when you discuss things you get

quite a bit out of discussion so it's

very important to recognize that that

this isn't just a dump you know that you

you come and you're empty vessels and

you get filled up these things their

meanings that you need to interact with

to make them real for you so that it's

not just information and and it's

important to to think about these things

and not just to take things all of you

here almost all of you I think are

adults and you know the religion is not

real if it's not based on on a real

belief and our religion has never shied

away from questions you know it's one of

the beauties of the religion is that no

scholar ever said you can't ask that as

far as I know that there are certain

things that you know come from arrogance

and from other things that's another

thing but genuinely if somebody is

generally trying to understand something

then there's usually answers now some

things and particularly with when you

get into tawheed when you're talking

about the essence of God there's real

limitations because of the nature of

language so that's that's also

understood that this is about language I

mean the book of imam at the Howey is a

book of words it's words and the words

are about God and God is the ineffable

God is what we really can't articulate

and language fall short of speaking

about God so before we get into that I

want to preface this by what are called

the Madadi in Nevada a co-defendant

ishara al had the one mobile summit

amara that the the foundation of all

knowledge is the the foundational

principles of every knowledge are 10

there's 10 foundational principles of

every knowledge

and before you start into that knowledge

it's good to know those foundational

principles the first one is called a

head which in our in the English

language we call that a definition it's

important to know the definition of what

you're studying now a definition and in

logic is something that gets to the

essence of a thing when you define

something you have to define it

essentially and a definition should be

inclusive and exclusive it should be

include everything that that thing is

and should exclude everything that it

isn't that's that's a real proper

definition so you know to give me an

example of this the logician say that a

human being is a rational animal human

beings are animals but they're rational

animals and that is a definition because

it gets to the essence of what a human

being is to be human is to be an animal

but also to be rational to be sapien

shal to be an animal that has intellect

the ability to reason other animals

don't have that so it excludes the

irrational it excludes the the animals

that are in an instinct that are working

on instinct and and then you have the

the mold WA which is the subject matter

what that thing is about and then you

have the thumb rot which is the fruit

what's the benefit of that thing well

fun little hole and then you have the

the virtue of that thing why that thing

should be learned because not all

knowledge should be learned there's some

knowledge --is that are superfluous

there's some knowledge --is that are a

complete waste of time

um there's you know astrology is a

knowledge it's a you can study astrology

and it's a knowledge but it's a waste of

time

alchemy is a type of knowledge also it's

a waste of time

so there our knowledge is out there and

that's why the Prophet said Allah

homogeneous arukadhimon nephew and you

know I ask you for beneficial knowledge

knowledge that benefits me benefits me

because information there's a lot of

information out there but a lot of

information is a complete waste of time

and I think most of us are filled with

trivia that I personally would like

those parts of my brain that have been

occupied by that trivia back but it's

it's something that unfortunately you

know we're stuck with that like

commercial jingles that you can never

get out of your head I mean I watched a

woman literally dying of lung cancer

saying a Chesterfield jingle which was

an old kind of cigarette back in the 40s

or something and she was cursing she

said those liars and she was literally

dying you know in the hospital but she

had that jingle that she heard when she

probably first starts smoking cigarettes

so there's a lot of things that we know

that are just unfortunate but this is

not I mean this is an incredibly

fruitful thing and so knowing it's

virtue is knowing why it's worthy of our

time and our consideration when is

spittoon and then knowing what what what

it's what it's relates to you know what

in other words what it's associated with

what a while there and who is the first

one that made that science what is

smallest him dad or hook Machado and

then to know its name because every

knowledge has an name or it has several

names to know its esteem dad is to know

what that knowledge is deriving its

principles and its facts or its opinions

because there's knowledge is opinion

also it's not just fact sound opinion

and what it's deriving them from what

are the sources of that knowledge

distant that walk machete and to know

the legal ruling of that knowledge to

know the legal ruling what is the ruling

of that knowledge is it for dying

is it for casaya and then we'll Masato

Bardo who bid bobby Activa and then to

know the mesial so the subject is what

it's talking about the mesial are the

details of of those things what it's

investigating so and then in other words

the topics because it is between subject

and topic so the mesial are the topics

and then he says Minh has a man Daryl

Jim yang has a sharafa if you know all

these things then you've attained an

honorable rank so anyway that's those

are called the my body and eye shadow so

in terms of tawheed the the definition

of it is it is the science that

investigates the nature of God and the

nature of prophecy and the nature of

eschatology in other words the last

things so it it it looks at the nature

of God the magia of God the nature of

prophets and and what are called the

summit yet those things that have been

revealed and the end and relate to the

unseen matters that we don't really know

about and then the subject matter of the

is the subject matter is the the the

essence of God the attributes of God and

the the essence of prophets and the

attributes of prophets and then the the

articles of faith and the Kitab you know

which is part of that and then the the

fit or the virtue the benefit the FATA

of it is that it protects you from

having mistakes in your understanding

about allah subhanaw taala

for instance there are people that think

that the universe is eternal and inta

heed the the quran is very clear that a

las pedir ASIMO at the up he originated

the heavens in the earth without any

prior pattern that's what vidya means an

originator that is working that is

bringing something into the world

without any prior pattern on a lady myth

had in mu Spock and then he's also

called father Usama at Ewood autumn the

one who brought forth the heavens in the

earth he's horrible somehow at you but

all he's he's al baddie he's in more so

well so the hot up is the one that

brings it into existence out of nothing

the baddie is the one that fashions it

and then the misawa is the one that

forms it into the forms that it takes

so the Allah subhana WA Ta'ala has

formed creation for instance the there's

people that that deny design which is

pure it's that is co far like to deny

design is co far this is as simple as

that if you say there's this is all

randomness and there's no real design

here that that is the essence of it's

such a denial of what is so clearly

obvious no matter what mechanisms are

being used to bring about the forms that

exist in the world the idea of denying

design that there is design here and

design necessitates a designer so the

benefit of tawheed is to know

the the correct things about God and

about the prophets so to know for

instance that the prophets are

impeccable they don't they don't there's

a difference of opinion about whether

they can do minor sins what are called

venial sins in Christianity there's a

difference of opinion but the dominant

thing is is that they don't even do that

that there's and and this is why there's

a extensive literature in our tradition

explaining all of the things that appear

to be peccadilloes or appear to be minor

infractions of the of the prophets

you'll find that in the literature

explaining like that Ibrahim a DCM did

not lie when he said you know the big

one did it because he used his thumb

pointing with his thumb things like that

I mean sometimes you know they they go

to quite interesting links to prove that

point but DM the idea of the prophets

doing anything major is absolutely

completely unacceptable so learning that

into heat learning also what a prophet

is like the nature of a prophet learning

that the prophets can get sick but they

can't have illnesses that would make

them abhorrent to the people that they

were sent to so for instance Ayub in the

Islamic tradition job his illnesses are

not illnesses that the people were

disgusted by they were actually internal

sicknesses the people couldn't see them

not those are how that's one aspect of

and and but the greatest benefit of all

is that toe heed is when you understand

you have theory and practice when you

understand real toe he'd theoretically

for instance that allows annually may

you deed he does whatever he wants

that Allah subhanAllah

cannot oppress his servants because of

the nature of servanthood and the fact

that we are part of the Dominion of God

that the human being is created by God

and and and and Allah subhana WA Ta'ala

has complete and utter and absolute

property rights over the human being

it's his MOOC and you are man Luke you

know you're a possession of God and so

whatever God wants to do to you if he

wants to give you the worst disease

imaginable Allah you know God forbid

that it's not wrong God can do whatever

he wants he can give you a joyous life

he can give you a miserable life Allah

can do whatever he wants and that is the

transcendent God you know that that's

the God that is frightening it's the

dhul Jalal you know it's the god of

Jalal it's the God of tsunamis it's the

God of Holocaust it's the god of fire

it's the God of of cancer it's the God

that you know takes little children from

their loving parents that that is the

the that is that is an aspect of God and

we're in submission to that aspect of

God to the best of our ability because

that's part of God's nature but he's

also little generally will a Crom he's

the god of immense blessing he's the god

of overflowing bounty and and he's the

god who hides his bounty in his terror

he's a God who hides his blessings in

his tribulations and so learning those

things helps us deal with the

vicissitudes of time with the calamities

of our lives with the difficulties and

then finding out for instance that the

prophets have the greatest tests because

nobody whoever loses a child can can

feel anything but consolation when they

learn that the Prophet Ison buried all

of his children except for one so the

best of creation had all of his children

taken from him and yet he never

complained even though he wept he wept

when he lost his children we know that

is in the Hadees but he never complained

and he said God does not take you to

account for your eyes in other words for

your grief but he takes you to account

for what you say like why did God do

this to me so that's one of the benefits

is learning the the theory and then

beginning to exercise the theory in the

laboratory of life because this science

is really about being out there in the

world and it's the the father the virtue

of the science has the highest it's the

highest of Sciences some of the elements

a ship is over but because focus how you

worship Allah

but till he'd generally is considered to

be the highest I mean the mythically

moon in the fokaha debate on this but

because the thai look of this science in

other words the relationship is with the

nature of god and that is the highest

thing that humans can conceive of it has

the highest virtue so this is the fact

the Nisswa is to the enormous area it's

it's it's related to the sciences of

Islam of Islamic law and it's part of of

that science the water the one who who

formulated this science is first and

foremost we believe it's allah subhanaw

taala through the Quran because the

Quran is a revelation that tells us

about the nature of God it tells us that

Fadiman who la ilaha illaallah you know

know that there's no god but allah you

know Allah subhana WA Ta'ala tells us

who Allah who I had know that God is one

he tells us that he is the creator of

the heavens of the earth

he tells us that

that that he is carnival by daddy that

he is in complete control and overwhelms

his servants with his idea he tells us

he's a lion that he's the sustainer of

the heavens and the earth so much of the

Piranha Clara t'v is about God if you

ever have a red-letter Quran that has

the names of Allah in red you can see

how much of the Quran is about a lot of

behin over to Anna and in essence it's

all about a lots of behind Matata

because even when it's about the

prophets and there's tribulations it's

still about the call to Allah Subhan

Allah Tala

so knowing that it is it's it's a it is

formulated by God himself in the Quran

but then it's also the prophets lyceum

is the one that gave us this so by Maj

as this is by not in reality because in

reality God is the one that gave us the

knowledge of his nature but he the means

is the prophets lies in him and then by

extension if the the the great

formulators of this science are are

really three three men but hasn't had a

shoddy is one of them and he is a fourth

century scholar who was one of the great

moretz light scholars and then he made

Toba from that and he became the great

advocate of the what's called a

hallucinogen which i'm going to get into

in a moment but albert hasanat ashati is

a very maligned scholar of late

historically he was recognized by

everybody as being one of the great

imams i mean even even Tamiya is very

clear in his praise of abu hassan at

ashati so when people attack the HIDs

today it's very odd for people that know

the islamic tradition

to hear that it doesn't mean that there

there weren't groups that were opposed

historically but they were never in

numbers large enough to really warrant

any you know serious consideration and

then the other one is a woman sort of

Matthew DD who was in what's now

Afghanistan he was from there and they

were living at approximately the same

time and then the third one is is

probably Imam at the Howey

now generally and what I was taught by a

lot of my teachers was that the the

people of how are the UH shaadi in the

Matuidi and and and everybody else's is

off but I think it's undeniable that

there is a third group of people that

are the thirty people and and I think

it's it's important to acknowledge that

because it's not really fair to isolate

that group and say that somehow they're

not part of the tradition because they

are and one of the great examples of

that is given a blood bottle and the

onnum of the Marathi alone very few of

them were uh shot ease it was called the

oboe bucket had been an auto be who

brought the ashati meth-head to Morocco

and to and Lucia but prior to that they

were more a thirty in their approach and

they tended to really not like as what

what is termed sometimes in English

speculative theology or column so

dialectical theology but it's important

to distinguish between the Etheria who

are the people of a thought and stick to

the the text without really bringing in

what are called the octet or the

rational sciences to buttress the the

the theology those people were not moja

sima they were not literalists they were

not people that thought

that certain verses in the Quran were to

be taken literally they understood those

verses did not mean what what they

outwardly were saying but they were not

going to say what they meant they really

left it to Newt Minow Bajada Murad Allah

we believe in him according to what God

says about them and that is also a

position within the ashati and the

maturity the schools also so that's not

just the earth ADIZ but that is the

early scholars and some of the later

scholars from those schools so when we

study Creed we have to understand that

Creed develops out of problems when the

Prophet slicing them came he was not a

theologian in that he didn't come with

this systematic theology he came with a

truth about God that God is one and the

proton has a theology in it but the

Prophet SAW I sent him did not bring a

type of creed that's formulated the way

they are now this came later and the

Sahaba were people that were in such a

powerful experience 'el Islam they were

living these truths they were Imam Adi

all of the Ilan who said that I never

saw anything but except that I saw God

before it after it and in it in other

words that he was witnessing the a file

of God you know the acts of God in

creation the idea that no leaf falls

without the knowledge of God so being

aware of God in that way in a very real

presence that was very much how these

people were and so they weren't going to

debate things and and they just weren't

interested in that

so when when the Muslims came up against

the Christians who had a very profound

theological tradition because

Christianity has much more emphasis on

theology than it does on law whereas the

Jewish and the Muslim traditions have

been more focused on law on fill so when

they came up against the Christians in

Syria and Iraq and Egypt suddenly they

were asking them questions they'd never

been asked before like the Quran says

that Jesus is is the Kalima the you know

the Word of God which in greek is logos

and in the Gospel of John it says in the

beginning was the word the logos and the

Word was with God in the word what and

the Word was God so does that mean that

Jesus is the logos in other words is he

the Eternal Word of God and so nobody

ever thought about that and then they

said and when you say the puranas Kodama

law does that mean that the Quran is the

logos in other words is the Quran

created or is it uncreated nobody had

ever asked him these questions and so

suddenly they were forced to think about

things that they hadn't thought about

before

hence theology because that is the means

by which they were able to really come

to some conclusions about these Shu

bohat because these are obfuscation z'

that come in to the teaching that create

problems in the hearts of people and the

resolution of the problems comes through

working through these problems and

coming to conclusions about them and

this is what the motorcade lee moon did

this is what the theologians did and and

they created creeds an imam at the

howie's creed is one of the earliest

creeds abu hanifa there's a Creed that's

attributed to him that proceeds this and

there's a debate a big debate about

whether he acts

you wrote it or not but Imam at the how

he's definitely in the line of that

Creed among how his Creed is almost

identical to about Hassan and Ishod his

Creed they differ on four points or

crazy Marzuki and that's it

our Hassan Abu Mansour and Matuidi whose

Creed is articulated in the Nessa fiha

is also very similar he differs on

certain things and there's some

interesting differences and their

differences that are insoluble in that

you're not going to come to some kind of

not going to resolve these problems so

they're just there and they are what

they are

so having said that the you know the the

the founders of these Creed's are are

called the founders of of this science

as well now oblah Hassan Elijah Adi was

very fortunate in having an absolute

genius student of a bucket or bottle Ani

who is probably one of the greatest

intellects in human history I mean

anybody that really looks at his his

work and his genius would have to come

to that conclusion and and he really I

mean he he in essence is is really one

of the saviors of Islam because at the

time when the massive onslaught of

Hellenistic rationalism was coming when

there were just so many a sex and and he

was refuting all these people with just

really extraordinary brilliance and

intellect and and and one of the things

that is important to understand about

these Creed's is that people that attack

them and I can really safely say this

almost have never studied them

and I found this consistently what they

do is they read their teachers who quote

these people and then they attack them

from within their own frames of

reference and they rarely actually study

because when you say that oh this is a

bit what is a bid at exactly you show me

where the bid at is in and and they'll

say well it's a bit out to say this or

that for instance it's a bit odd to say

that the most half is not the Kurama law

which is a shoddy position that when you

say Kurama law about the quran itself

the most half that's why the muslims

differentiate between most half and

quran right the we call the most half is

the copy of the Quran it's called a

must-have and we use it when we say

Quran we're really saying it like

magazine so but when we say the Quran

what is the Quran the Quran is caramel

aroma loop the uncreated word of Allah

in the macaron pidemo mafia here we're

at a khadeem oh what an animal what

Allah Arabic Allah no but I don't know

it terrible you know when the the the

Quran is the the word of Allah it

doesn't have syntactical precedents and

anticipate it doesn't have land you know

articulation it doesn't have Arab

inflection it doesn't have part or

universals or particular is Kulu allah

dhu tinta sabah because all of these

things are created by their nature

Hakone elma he mocked essa work account

Kony and me ran amok decibel like saying

God has acquired his knowledge so when

you say the Quran the most half is Quran

Allah we say that out of Edom

because you don't want to say it's not

the quran allah that's not the kind of

allah you can't say that it is a

parabola but it's not the konami law

that is a role model because it is in

the world it has paper it has ink on

paper

it's language that came into the world

whereas the the Kalama law that is

Kadeem is the meanings that allah

subhana wa ta'ala articulated in his

essence it's the meaning that Allah

subhana WA Ta'ala has in his essence so

that's an example of solving a problem

where these people were saying are you

saying that's uncreated and if you say

well yeah that's uncreated then you you

have a religion of people that think

things that are created are uncreated

but if you say that it's the Perron

is uncreated essentially then what

you're saying is an attribute of god is

on is is created the sefa of a lot

because kadam is all sefa of the motor

kingdom the the speech is an attribute

of the speaker the one speaking and so

if you say that his attribute is created

then you're saying that Allah has

created that there's an attribute that's

created and that creates a problem and

so this is this is in essence what these

men were dealing with and they did an

extraordinary job when you get to the

the free will and the determination you

know our human beings determined or are

they free these are paradoxical problems

that have befuddled all the religious

traditions that deal with these subjects

but if you look at them the way they

resolve them they're quite stunning

they're still limited by language but

they're still quite stunning and and

that so when we talk about the founder

we're talking first and foremost that

it's God that gave us this knowledge it

was transmitted by the Prophet slicin

but it was formulated by these great

intellects that the community was

provided with and we believe it's

providential care because the Prophet

SAW I said I'm said that this knowledge

would be protected by people in each

generation they protected and so that's

what what they've done any mama Howie is

one of the great people of that

science and that's why his Creed is so

important and then the that the name of

this is mewho is called it's called

Azula Dean it's called the Elemento he'd

it's called the LML Kalam these are

different names for this science but

generally is called Azula Dean the roots

of this religion because it's what this

religion is built upon is to heed and

this is the science of tawheed element

Kalam in the early period is a very

negative term and you will see many

statements of the early community

attacking column and these are used in

polemics modern polemics in books saying

that Kalam is evil and liquid Imam Shafi

said about Kalam look what so-and-so

said about Kalam they were talking about

the dialectical theology of the Martez

elight when they were talking about

these things they were not talking about

the refutation of the MARTA see light

which come from the Edison one genre

right and it's important to understand

that distinction so and then finally the

hook Machado is for dying it's

considered for dying on every person the

topics of it the mesial are covered in

you can see what the topics are in the

book but the the topics that are dealt

with are things like the base and right

the hold of the prophet the pool of the

Prophet what that entails the the UM

Okayama what happens on the ELMO qiyamah

what's hash are what's Nichelle

what's kadar what's the mean so these

these are the the the Messiah that it

deals with and then also like the that

the Quran is Kodama law and then so that

essentially is those are the the my body

and oshawa of this science now what I'm

going to do right now is is just

basically go through a de su knowledge

about what that means

sums are divided essentially into two

major groups the Sunni and the Shia the

Shia are historically they are the

people that supported Imam Ali in his

push for they were called Shia - Ali and

it's a historical reality he went up

against morale we are Delano and he

definitely had his support the idea that

Iman I was practicing topia for me is

hard to believe but that is a shear view

that Imam Mahdi really felt that he

should have been located immediately

after the Prophet slicin have died and

that there was great wrongs done to the

family of the prophets in him now the

Shia historically fall into different

categories the rawa field and the whole

lot of the Shia were tended to be looked

very very negative negatively by the

people of Sunnah but there were Shia

whose Teixeira was a thief and Imam Abu

Hadi relates Shia in sahih al-bukhari

and a lot of people don't know that but

there are Shia transmitters in sahibu

Hadi

so this idea that the Shia were all evil

and something like that is not an early

view of things but the ROE a field and

the people upon who feels happy Rasul

Allah those people that spoke ill or

spoke ill of aisha radi lana generally

were looked upon very negatively by the

Ummah that came to be known as the

Addison one Gemini and all I would say

is that the Shia tradition is an

alternative narrative and from within

the Shia tradition itself it's it's a

very strong argument which is why they

have very brilliant scholars and some of

them are extraordinarily well versed in

in all the sciences of islam arabic and

so from within their perspective it all

makes sense and that's why the Muslims

have never been able to really resolve

this problem there there have always

been brilliant she has scholars and

there been debates in the community and

it's just insoluble so it's best left

like that it's it's just not the the

best thing that we can have is is just a

peaceful coexistence which has happened

throughout history in many many places

the Muslims and the Sunnis and the

Shia's have lived together without

without problems in many places Allah

says a good example half the city is

Shia and the other half is Sunni and the

Shia keeps themselves the Sunnis keep to

themselves they don't hate each other

they just live their kind of separate

lives and they don't have those kind of

problems in America in particular we

should really avoid conflicts between

the Sunni and Shia I'm is really

important here that we really avoid some

of the baggage from back home that's my

view about things I'm very committed to

Sunni tradition is what I was taught

it's also makes the most sense to me

personally I mean I looked at the Shia

tradition I was interested in for during

that early period when during the the

Iranian Revolution I got interested in

it just as a phenomenon and for me

personally I've never had any allegiance

to anything other than the truth I mean

I'm just not interested in a kind of

tribal approach to religion like I'm

Benny son on there Venetia on our tribes

better than their tribe if if something

appears to me to be true right and but I

would say one thing but that this the I

had assumed that downplayed considerably

what happened and if you if you study

the history there's two versions one is

a very whitewashed history which tends

to be taught and the other is what real

happened and what really happened is

actually kind of hard to believe the

what happened to the family of the

Prophet the insurrection z' that

occurred the brutality that was directed

against them it's it's it's all history

it's not something that can people can

say did not happen it did happen

Malea Driss is a good example that who

fled from the Hejaz to morocco and

founded the idad isa delta there in

morocco which some the Moroccans tend to

claim that it was Malachy and some say

that he was actually part of the Shia

tradition so Allah Anam but from that

tradition is Adia

who are the people of northern Yemen

geographically northern Yemen's one

country now but geographically in the

northern part of Yemen you have this

idea and this idea who are called the

fibers as well these are the fibers and

sevinor's and is nicety of the twelvers

the the saadia are the closest from the

Shia community to the Addison they don't

speak ill of Abu Bakr or all model they

don't have a problem with their halifa

but they prefer imam ali over those two

and felt that he should have been the

first k dove so that's their view and

imam Ashok Ani who arguably is not as ad

he was raised as a D and he was raised

in that tradition so but he's an example

of just an incredibly brilliant scholar

so the Addison or Jamaat which is a

formula that came later how we have been

described is the people the prophetic

way and congregation so they're the

people of Sunnah and the idea is not

that the that the you know that I mean

the Sunnah the Shia have hadith and and

they in the end they follow hadith and

they have practices that they do but the

that I had a soon are the people of the

hadith methodology that that was

articulated by the great scholars of

hadith and in attempting to follow the

prophetic

just to the best and the Gemara is the

majority which the the Sun tradition is

the majority tradition so they are the

Gemara they are the majority so they're

the the congregation the prophet

sallallaahu said i'm said yet the law

him aljahmeir

the the hand of god is with the the

congregation and he said man shed the

shed the Phenom people that deviate

deviate off into it's a hellish

deviation so it was used initially to to

distinguish himself from the raffia and

the heritage the raffia are the Hulett

of the Shia the extremists from amongst

the Shia and the holidays are the people

who made tech fear of Muslims they

called other Muslims kaffir and they

they they became insurrectionist they

broke off from the civil governance the

jurist and heresy ologist shah qajar bin

Fahad bin Mohammed Ibaka daddy is Farah

Heaney is Farah he's one of the great

scholars he died in 429 but he said that

the additional Jamaat comprise 8

categories and this is very useful for

you to understand because he's one of

the early scholars for 29 is considered

from he's not from the set up some say

the set up goes up to the 5th century so

he would be included in the set of but

he's from that very early period and but

he says the first category is the group

who mastered the various aspects of

tawheed so they're the theologians of

the Addison illegitimate they know about

the new buit prophecy the eschatological

aspects of theology there and that

relate also to rewards and punishments

in the hereafter as well as of the as

the conditions of each D had so they

know how HT had is done in all of this

they have gone the route of the people

of attributes from our theologians the

people of C fat

because there the more pita nullified

the attributes of God and the Addison

affirm the attributes of God that that

that God went when he speaks about

attributes that that he does have those

attributes and that they are to be

affirmed and not nullified and and then

they're free of anthropomorphism touch

seem so they don't believe literal

things like that that God is literally

in a place or he's literally on a

physical throne things like that they

don't believe those things they say we

believe

Rockman eyelashes Toa we believe in it

you either share atamora deal at

whatever God meant by it I believe in it

but but what occurs to the mind it's

other than that because that's

impossible for God that's called that

wheel is malli the later owner Matt gave

it a tech wheel tough silly a detailed

interpretation said what it meant so

that's the position of the people who

are not anthropomorphise and then also

that jamia who for instance said that

the essence of God is everywhere it's

like a pan an theism and other groups

like the Nigeria the second category is

the Imams of jurisprudence from the two

groups of juristic reasoning and

transmission the people of hadith and

the people of right hello right are like

the hanafis an ADIZ

like the ham bodies and the and Chevys

and then the Imam addict joins between

the two so they believe in those groups

and they're free from Etta's on the type

of absolute dependence on rationalism

and also the Java which is a belief in

in determinism so they're neither

determinist nor are they people that

believe in absolute free will

they're between the two and they believe

in the raising of the graves as well as

the questioning in the grave because

there's

people that deny the questioning of the

grave they believe in the bodily

resurrection they also believe in the

reality of the intercession and the

forgiveness of all wrongs from a lot

with the exception of shit

and obviously that and we'll get into

that but that that that is people who

willingly commit shirk they affirm the

continuity of paradise for its people in

the torment of fire for the rejecters of

truth so the idea that the Paradise is

it's what they call in in scholastic

terminology AV ternal it goes on forever

although it had a beginning and they

also believed in the obligation of

congregational prayer jumar behind all

Imams so at a cinema Gemini pray behind

Imams as long as they're free of heresy

and deviation in other words bid at and

zendaya but if they're a bad person you

still pray behind them if they're a

reprobate and they confirm the

permissibility of wiping over the hoff

socks and what's important about that it

seems like a silly issue to bring up

it's even in the Creed of Imam the Howey

but the real issue was about it was

about motivated Hadees and whether the

hadith reaches the status of the Quran

because the Quran doesn't mention hope

it tells you you have to wipe the feet

but the hoof is mentioned in the hadith

and it's a motivator Hadees so the real

the reason they say and they believe in

the hope what they're really saying is

they believe that a motivator hadith has

the same value as a verse of Quran I

mean that's really the what - what

they're saying they just use that ruling

because that that's a route the Huaraz

rejected that so that was a major issue

in the early period how are they said

you can't wipe off over the socks and

then they also believe that the pre

mount pronouncement of divorce is three

times binding all right because this

this is an interesting issue that's been

raised now in modern times now they

believe that the temporary marriage is

prohibited mota is prayer

and that it

they also deem obedience to authority of

the state as an obligation as long as is

not anything that constitute agreed-upon

disobedience to Allah so they believe in

civil governance and that you actually

have to obey the state that you cannot

enter into insurrection against the

state is a really important point about

the Sunnah is that they're they're

against a holodeck view that you that

insurrection is acceptable mmm and then

and this includes the Companions of

Malek chef Rios a thorough Beneatha ibn

ABI Leila lathe thorough both or and the

Companions of a commitment humble as

well as the alibi of the literalist in

fill it includes them and all of the

other scholars who believed in the

matters of intellectual understanding

the way of the people of attributes and

did not dilute their beliefs with any

innovations of the people of heresy and

deviation the third category is those

people have mastered the science of

hadith and their various chains in

pathways that lead back to the